In Paris
Aux Lyonnais
Jul 26th
Last week, I found myself at a place that people don’t much talk about anymore – Aux Lyonnais. This is Alain Ducasse’s take on the bouchon - a style of restaurant from Lyon specializing in that region’s traditional and very meaty fare. I brought my boyfriend, a real Lyonnais, for dinner last week. We started with an apéro at the nearby Coinstot Vino and then arrived for our 9:00 reservation (booked online).
My first impression: this restaurant is beautiful. With its gleaming zinc bar, tiled floors, and checkered tablecloths, Aux Lyonnais is decorated like the French bistro of my dreams. If I were a More >
Cinéma en Plein Air
Jul 23rd
For six months out of the year, my Paris neighborhood is a dud. During the warm months, though, I feel lucky to live in the 75019. That’s especially true now, and for the next four weeks, when I can walk across the street and flop down on the lawn to watch a film.
Cinéma en Plein Air runs from July 17-August 22 and is one of my favorite things about summer. Serious crowds arrive every Tuesday to Sunday night to watch a film on the giant blow-up screen. Screenings start late (at sundown, around 10:30pm), but many arrive early to share a More >
Spring Restaurant reopens in Paris
Jul 22nd
I ate at Spring on Friday night, along with two other writers who have already published accounts of the very same meal. I’ll spare you the repetition and simply direct you to these reviews by Barbra Austin and Adrian Moore. You might also like to read the review by Mr. Lung from the following night, which Daniel Rose told me was the “most sensitive review” that he had seen in a long time.
For my part, I wrote a story that was published by BlackBook today, detailing the hype that surrounds this opening. I’ve excerpted a bit below and you can head over there to More >
La Bodeguita
Jul 13th
I recognized Nat(halie) the moment I walked into la Bodeguita, a newish wine bar on the rue Quincampoix. I spent many nights in the palm of her hand back when she worked at Le Garde Robe. “I remember you, too” she said, narrowing her eyes into a French girl’s version of “here comes trouble.”
I always drank too much at Le Garde Robe when Nat was working behind the bar. I’d go in for one drink and she’d pour me something crazy – something natural, unexpected and fun. She asked what I thought, made suggestions based on my response, and allowed More >
Autour d’un Verre
Jun 24th
Caroline Mignot, a French writer who I like quite a lot, recently wrote about this little wine bar in the 9th. “I’m surprised that I haven’t written about it before,” she said, and I know exactly how she feels. Autour d’un Verre is a place I’ve visited many times and one that I often recommend. But I hadn’t ever written about it, beyond a little mention in BlackBook, because it’s just so incredibly simple. Sometimes, though, that’s exactly what you need.
My first visit happened four years ago with Phyllis Flick, a longtime Paris resident who I “met” on the eGullet discussion forum. More >
Paris by Mouth welcomes Patricia Wells
Jun 18th
The first cookbook I ever used (but not the first I ever owned) was written by Patricia Wells. I still own this sauce-stained copy of Trattoria and remember our first collaboration: penne all’Arrabiata, cooked for a boy during my senior year of college. Because it turned out well (the pasta, not the affair), Patricia Wells became my hero.
That affection was compounded when I later moved to Paris and began abusing a borrowed copy (thanks, Jennifer) of The Food Lover’s Guide to Paris. I relied on Wells’ website for dining recommendations and flipped furtively under restaurant tables through her French/English food glossary.
More recently, when I More >
We’re Here! Paris by Mouth launches with a party at Spring Boutique
Jun 2nd
Last night some friends and I threw a little party to celebrate the launch of Paris by Mouth. I arrived at 5pm with Barbra Austin at Spring Boutique. Twelve hours later, after approximately the same number of glasses, I managed to find my laptop and push Paris by Mouth out into the world. This is what happened in the hours before our new website was born…
The Food Humper
May 28th
I will admit, as much as I’m looking forward to the next phase, that I miss Spring. Not the season, but the place. Daniel Rose’s Spring Restaurant was for years my favorite Paris table. I wasn’t alone in feeling that way – by the time Rose closed the doors in order to reopen in central Paris, his restaurant had become impossible to book.
The new Spring, on the rue Bailleul around the corner from the Louvre, will open in June July. With additional dining room seating, a basement wine bar and a private table inside the cave, there will be greater opportunities More >
My Dinner with David
May 14th
On a hot and humid night in July 2007, I made my first visit to Hidden Kitchen. The “underground supper club” was brand new and still buzzing from a write-up that had appeared on Chocolate & Zucchini. I had brought a new boyfriend and was trying to convince him that I was cool and cosmopolitan. That illusion was shattered when we entered the apartment and a certain someone caught my eye. “Holy crap!” I blurted like a jittery school girl, “you’re David Lebovitz!”
Cornered in the kitchen, David had no choice but to suffer my stalker-like admiration. He was sweet and More >
Aux Deux Amis
May 12th
The evening began with an apology over the phone: “the owner is gone this week, so we’re only doing tapas.” It finished with some nail-in-the-coffin Crozes-Hermitage, taken while standing at the bar and listening to this song:
I think I may have found my happy place. In this place, men who are handsome enough to have worked at le Chateaubriand bring me glass after glass of natural wine. I soak these up with small plates of food that look simple, are made with foodie approved ingredients (Thiebault veggies), and taste a little like love.
Burrata with green asparagus
The most delicious (oily, oniony) Tortilla outside of Madrid. More >
